Europe

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten has fallen just shy of full subscription with its first ever dollar sustainability bond, as bankers lamented a volatile backdrop in one of the last clear funding windows of the year. GlobalCapital understands that choppy markets put off another borrower from issuing a dollar green bond.

French health care group Elsan, owned by private equity firm CVC, is buying out peer MédiPôle Partenaires from Bridgepoint in an operation that will take out bond debt with loans.

MRH, the largest independent petrol retailer in the UK, and Swiss telecoms firm UPC had bank meetings on Thursday for loan refinancings, while new money deals have also joined the market.

Three corporate issuers pushed deals into a widening primary market on Wednesday with mixed results, as rates volatility kept new issue premiums elevated for borrowers.

Civitas Social Housing, the UK real estate investment trust, has completed its IPO on the London Stock Exchange, having offered investors the first ever pure play on a social housing Reit.

Commerzbank returned to the covered bond market on Wednesday to issue its fourth deal of the year. Although order book granularity was less than usual, the €500m long six year was priced tightly and the quality of interest was high.

ING was looking to cut a sizeable chunk from its remaining additional tier one requirements on Wednesday, targeting the Reg S dollar market for its third issue in the currency.

US companies have led a charge into the euro bond market this week, as the predicted slug of issuance after the presidential election arrived.

Bayer, the German life sciences group, picked Tuesday night to launch the first part of its $19bn equity financing for its $66bn takeover of Monsanto. Bayer's deal comes as equity markets are revitalised by the new conviction that Western policy is shifting to reflation.

Caja Rural Navarra pushed ahead with its seven year Cédulas Hipotecarias backed by environmental and social governance assets on Wednesday, even though it knew the market was likely to be unreceptive.

The deal the equity-linked bond market has been awaiting for months has arrived this evening. Bayer, the German life sciences group, has launched a €4bn mandatorily convertible issue as the first part of its $19bn equity financing for its takeover of Monsanto.

Issuers and their bankers have been too slow to react to the swift change in sentiment since the US election. That oversight became glaringly obvious this week with deals from BBVA and ANZ, but the mood swing was clear well before that.